TAT Demonstration

First, I recorded a second video, this time of the hand position for the Tapas Acupressure Technique. I linked in my TAT post to a weird YouTube video, but upon reflection, I think there’s room in the world for one a little less . . . how shall I put it?

Ah, Xanax. I still daydream about it sometimes, especially on those days when Baby Bear fights his naps. Back when I was suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depression, I had a tiny prescription for Xanax—just 6 pills at a time—and because I was terrified of becoming addicted, I rationed them carefully.

But they were awesome, and I kind of want some more. Except I don’t have anxiety disorders anymore. Darn?

I share this to emphasize that I know personally what clinical anxiety feels like, so when I say that tapping works for anxiety, I mean it.

I wish I’d had this technique back then to help me! I can think of specific situations when I could have tapped instead of taking prescription drugs.

(Of course, if you have a serious anxiety disorder, please work with a qualified professional. I’m not suggesting you simply stop taking medications! This is a holistic wellness blog, not a radical all-natural-only blog. Include this technique as part of your toolbox and work toward correcting underlying causes from a long-term, whole-person perspective.)

What Is Tapping?

Like the TAT, it’s an emotional acupressure technique used to calm and process emotions. You use your fingers to tap or rub acupuncture points on your body while repeating a clearing statement. It can help relieve generalized anxiety or a feeling of tension, phobias, and strong emotions linked to specific events (e.g., your newborn baby is crying nonstop or you just found out your co-worker got promoted into the position you wanted).

Wikipedia may deem it pseudoscience, but many of us would beg to differ. I don’t pretend to know exactly why it works. I just know that it does. We’re talking huge before-and-after differences 90% of the time.

And I speak as someone who majored in psychology and was extremely skeptical of things like this. I also spent years in psychotherapy for trauma, so when Wikipedia says that the positive results from tapping are “likely due to well recognized conventional psychological techniques often used with the tapping,” I laugh a little inside. As if.

If you missed yesterday’s post, Part 1 (complete with a poem!), click here. Now, onward to the sunrise!

It’s Called Pelvic Pain

After re-reading Katy Bowman’s blog post on internal physical therapy, I spent hours online trying to find resources. Umpteen search terms later (no, “internal physical therapy” didn’t work), I finally ran across the term “pelvic pain.” That was the key. “Pelvic pain” opened up a Google gold mine. While I didn’t come across any happy endings like the one I’m writing now, I finally found the Pelvic Health & Physical Therapy Center in Houston, Texas.

I also discovered that millions of women are out there suffering with pelvic pain of one kind or another, much of it painful intercourse. This kind of pain does not always start after pregnancy and birth either; sometimes it’s spontaneous. (Sobering tidbit: The physical therapists told me that large studies have now demonstrated a link between hormonal birth control [e.g., the Pill] and spontaneous pelvic pain, and that they’ve seen this correlation in their own practice. That’s scary given the number of women out there using these forms of birth control.)

What the Physical Therapists Said

I gathered my courage and booked a first appointment with the PH&PTC, a 2.5 hour ordeal. I filled out reams of paperwork in excruciating detail about my most private experiences. I signed consent forms acknowledging that treatment could be painful. On the big day, I was so sick with shame and fear that I almost threw up in the waiting room. I excused myself to the bathroom and used an emotional acupressure technique to calm down (similar to the TAT but better for out-and-about emergency situations; I’ll share it later in the Healing for Life series). [Edited: Here’s the tapping technique I used.] Whew!

The nurse practitioner who governs the practice sat me down for a talk. What a relief. She talks to women just like me all day, every day–and helps them too. Kleenex abounded, and I took full advantage of them. My pain levels were a 10. My fears about the future were a 10. My sexual frustration was a 10.

The NP very compassionately listened to my history and my doctor’s conclusions, how I was feeling, the kind of support I had, and then shared her thoughts. She said that nerve entrapment was the least common cause of my symptoms, that she had some strong suspicions about what was really going on, and told me that I’d be working with a biofeedback specialist as well as one of their physical therapists.

[I’ve received questions about the appropriateness of energy medicine and techniques for Christians, and while I look forward to addressing these concerns in a dedicated series (after all, there’s a lot to think about with this topic!), for now, I’m just forging ahead with sharing what works for me.]

A Different Approach to Healing Emotions

Already in this Healing for Life series, I’ve mentioned emotional healing and “healing tools” as big parts of my personal journey. When I say I believe in holistic health, I mean that. I think it’s misguided to address only the body when it comes to physical illness, and equally misguided to focus only on the mind when dealing with emotions, stress, or depression. (Actually, I’m even more holistic than that, but we’ll get to that later!) The Tapas Acupressure Technique (TAT) addresses both mind and body. You might think of the TAT as a kind of do-it-yourself emotional acupuncture.

We usually think of our emotions as intellectual experiences, but they are physical as well. Every emotion has corresponding physiological (chemical) processes. As I understand it, the idea behind something like the TAT is that you can help the body process the emotions, leaving your conscious experience freer.

What I can say with most confidence, though, is simply that this works for me. It’s truly changed my life.

However it works, the TAT helps me not only relieve the experience of strong emotions like anxiety, anger, or abandonment, but also helps uncover and heal some of what’s underneath the emotions. It’s amazing. I always invite God into the process and ask for His healing, and He has been very faithful to show me where I am unfaithful and to guide me back to His truth.

You can do the TAT about an emotion that’s bothering you, or about an entire situation. One thing I love about this technique is that I don’t have to be able to articulate in words what’s wrong or how I feel. Sometimes I just feel anxious or blah and have no idea what’s going on, but I’m tired of feeling that way. That’s when I do a TAT. Or, I’ll do one when I know or suspect that there’s an area of my life that needs healing, as you’ll see below.